


Little Brother

by eerian_sadow



Series: Nobilius [9]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Absent Parents, Alternate Universe, Gen, Job Loss, Mentions of Child Slavery, Mentions of kidnapping, Noble AU, Poverty, implied prostitution, jazz isn't a noble though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 11:12:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13270239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: Jazz and his sister have it rough, but they'll go to great lengths to take care of each other. Even if Jazz is too young to really know how.





	Little Brother

**Author's Note:**

> And this is the last fill for hurt comfort bingo! :D Made it, with a day to spare! This fic fills my "loss of job/income" square, though it definitely approaches the issue from the side. Jazz is poor, but isn't really aware of it until he's older.

“Can you sit here for me and play quietly while I work, little?”

Jazz looked up at Big Sister and nodded. Then he smiled his biggest smile, the one that always made Big Sister smile too. “Be good!”

Big Sister smiled, just like he knew she would. “No, you be good! And stay in this room until I come back. Then we’ll get some energon and go home.”

“Okay.” Jazz smiled again, so that Big Sister would be happy when she left instead of sad like she usually was since Carrier went away. “See you!”

“See you.” Big Sister leaned forward a kissed the top of his head. Then she got up and left.

Jazz watched until the door closed behind her before turning to his bag of toys. Big Sister might be happier if he drew her a nice picture on his data pad.

 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Okay, Jazz, let's go.”

Jazz looked up at Big Sister and gave her his biggest smile again. She looked even more tired than she had before, and he wanted her to be happy even more. He didn't like that she was always so sad and tired.

Big Sister smiled back, for a few kliks. “Pack up your stuff bit, Meltdown needs this room.”

“Okay!” Jazz scrambled to put his toys and coloring sticks back in the bag. Meltdown was angry all the time, and got Big Sister in trouble if they didn't give him the room fast enough. “Ready!”

Big Sister held out her hand as Jazz jumped to his feet. He smiled again as he took it, and swung their joined hands as they stepped into the hallway.

“it's all yours,” Big Sister told the angry brown and yellow mech outside the door. “Have a good night.”

“It'd be better if you sold me that scraplet you're hauling around.” Meltdown glared down at Jazz and the smile fell away from the young mech’s face. “Got a client that likes ‘em small.”

“You can _not_ buy my brother.” Big Sister’s hand squeezed his tight enough to hurt, but Jazz didn't say anything. “So frag off!”

“Suit yourself.” Meltdown shrugged and walked into the room. “Boss wants to see you on the way out.”

“Ugh. Thanks for the warning.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

 

"Big Sis? How come the boss says I can't stay anymore?" Jazz stuck his spoon into his energon whip and scooped out a small bite of the special treat while he waited for her to answer.

Finally, after a few kliks, she sighed. "He that someone saw you and thinks we do bad things to you when you stay in Meltdown's room. They called the Enforcers, and Enforcers make other people not want to come to the club."

"But you'd punch them in the face if they were bad to me!" Jazz knew. He had seen her do it once, when the scary green mech had tried to take him.

"You know that, and I know that, little. But not everyone knows that." Big Sister sighed. She looked sad again, and Jazz didn't like it. "We're just gonna have to find someplace else for you to stay while I work."

"Okay." Jazz stuck his spoon into his treat, then jumped down off his chair to run around the table. Big Sister looked surprised, but she let him climb into his lap when he tried. "I'll be good, promise."

"I know you will." She hugged him tight for a few kliks. Then she reached for his bowl and pulled the energon whip across the table. "Now eat this before it melts. Then we can see if you can stay with Copperplate or Shear."

"Okay." Jazz hugged her again. Then he reached for the spoon and started eating his energon whip again. Big Sister still wasn't happy, but he would find a way to make her feel better.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"I know it isn't enough." Shear frowned at Big Sister. "I would take him more if I could, but with Tailwind having to be at the hospital so often..."

"Two nights helps," Big Sister interrupted the flyer. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I just wish I could do more."

"Well, if you can take him two nights a deca-cycle and Copperplate can take him for two or three, then we'll make it. The rent on our place isn't bad."

Jazz looked from Big Sister to Shear and frowned. They both looked sad. He didn't like it at all. 

"That place is a hole. You deserve better." Shear sighed. "Look, Tailwind and I have a room we aren't using. It'll be better than that hole and we'll charge less."

"I appreciate that, but the two of you need to focus on him getting better. Jazz and I are okay where we are." Big Sister gave their neighbor a weak smile. "Just watching him at night helps a lot."

"I'll fuel him too," Shear told her after a few long kliks. "That way you have one less thing to worry about."

"Thanks." This time, Big Sister's smile was better and that made Jazz feel better. He smiled, too.

"I'll be extra good," he promised. That made both adults smile, and he liked that more. They shouldn't have to be sad all the time.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"Love you," Jazz said, hugging Big Sister tightly. He didn't want her to go to work and be so far away, but they couldn't have energon without the shanix they gave her from dancing. "Be good."

"No, you be good." Big Sister hugged him just as tight. "I love you, too. Remember to do what Shear asks and don't make a mess of the house."

"I will. See you later?"

"Yeah, little. You'll see me later."

"Okay." Jazz smiled, but he knew it wasn't the big bright smile that always made her smile too. 

Big Sister smiled anyway, and he felt a little better about her being so far away.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Jazz had been staying with Shear or Copperplate for three meta-cycles when Copperplate gave him an old guitar that was almost as tall as he was.

"Learn to play, bitlet, and you can start helping your sister bring home shanix." Copperplate had been frowning when he said that, but Jazz didn't think he was angry.

"What do I do?" he asked, curiously pulling at a string. He was surprised when it made a nice noise as his fingers slid off.

That had made Copperplate smile and Jazz felt like he'd done a good job at something. "Sit next to me, bit. I'll show you what I know."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Soon, Jazz was sitting outside Copperplate's shop with a small bucket while he practiced. Sometimes he made up new songs, and once a stranger sat down and taught him a song from a place called Gygax. He liked that song and that stranger, and did his best to play it perfectly.

The more he practiced, the more people left shanix in his bucket.

 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"You're sounding real good, little." Big Sister smiled. "Keep getting better, and maybe you can go to that big music school in Iacon."

Jazz lowered his guitar and frowned at his sister. "Iacon is too far away."

"You're too good to stay in Polyhex forever, little brother." She smiled again. "Go ahead and finish practice. Then we'll get energon."

"Okay." Jazz smiled, too, but it wasn't big or bright. He didn't want to go to Iacon and leave Big Sister behind.

 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

 

"I'm sorry, Tempo." Shear sounded like he had been crying. "I can't take Jazz anymore. Tailwind has... He's gotten worse and has to move into the hospital permanently. His medic doesn't think he'll be coming home."

"Don't worry about us," Big Sister replied softly. "We'll manage. Do you want us to house sit for you?"

Shear shook his head. "We're selling the house. I don't... I won't... There are too many memories here."

"Okay." She pulled the flyer into a hug and Jazz joined a moment later. Shear began sobbing.

Jazz wished he could make everything better. Tailwind was nice, and he shouldn't have to go away like his carrier.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"What can I get you today?" The waitress smiled the way she always did, a little fake but trying hard, and Jazz smiled back.

"Can I have a Purple blend with extra copper?" Jazz asked.

"You got it, bitlet."

"I'm not a bitlet anymore!"

The waitress and Big Sister laughed a little. Then the waitress smiled a real smile. "When you're my age, everyone's a bitlet, bitlet."

"Am not!" Jazz smiled a little brighter, knowing she was teasing him. 

"Am too!" The old femme turned to Big Sister. "What for you, sweets?"

"Nothing for me." Big Sister shook her head. "Just whatever Jazz wants."

Jazz's smile fell away. Big Sister hadn't had fuel in at least three days. 

"You sure? We've got that spicy mix that you like on hand."

"I'm sure."

"All right." The waitress left with Jazz's order.

Jazz turned his frown on his sister. "Why aren't you eating?"

"There's not money, Jazz. I paid the rent this morning, and they cut my hours at the club." Big Sister rested her arms on the table and sighed. "You need fuel more than I do."

Jazz didn't really understand that. "But everyone needs fuel! You'll get sick without it!"

"I'll have something tomorrow." She gave him a tired smile. "You need more so that you can grow up and go to school in Iacon."

"I'm not going to Iacon. I'm gonna stay here and take care of you!"

"Oh, Jazz." Coolant welled up in Big Sister's optics for a klik before she blinked and it fell down her face in tears. "I love you so much, little brother."

Jazz slid out of his chair and came around the table. He crawled up into Big Sister's lap the way he used to when he was little and hugged her tight. "I love you, too. It's gonna be okay."

"I hope so, little brother." 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Jazz sat outside Copperplate's shop with his guitar and a flute that someone had brought in to sell for a few shanix. Jazz had bought it right away with some of the money from his bucket, and he was determined to learn to play it even though Copperplate didn't know how. Two instruments _had_ to make more money than one.

"Your scales need work," a tall, black mech said after Jazz pulled the instrument away from his lips. "And you aren't holding it right."

"I ain't got money for lessons," the young mech replied with a frown. "But I'll figure it out."

"I could give you lessons, in exchange for some small chores."

Jazz glared at the other mech. He wasn't dumb, and he remembered the green mech who had tried to take him when he was little. "I got this."

"As you wish." The black mech bowed and then threw a few shanix into the bucket. "If you change your mind, I own a restaurant on the Hill."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Jazz traded his flute for his guitar and played the song from Gygax until the black mech walked away.

Copperplate stepped out of the shop a few kliks later, optics wide and looking a little scared. "Jazz, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. He wanted me to do chores for him and he said he'd teach me the flute." The young mech's frown deepened. "But I'm not dumb enough to let him take me like that."

Copperplate looked even more upset when he said that. He crouched down in front of Jazz and put his hands on the young mech's shoulders. "Jazz, listen to me. If you ever see that mech again, you have to be nice and polite. Don't talk back and don't sass him. He's very, very dangerous."

"Oh." Jazz glanced toward the Hill, where the rich mechs lived, and then back to Copperplate. "Okay."

"I mean it, Jazz! Sometimes he's nice, but sometimes he's very, very bad."

"Okay. I'll be careful." Jazz had never seen Copperplate so worried, and he didn't like it at all. He would be careful to stay very far away from the black mech.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Big sister was crying when Jazz came home from Copperplate's shop. That scared him right away, because she should have been at the club and not inside their tiny house.

"Big sister? What happened?"

"I got fired today." Big Sister wiped at her optics, smearing coolant all over her face. "Meltdown said I stole one of his customers, and the boss sent me home and told me not to come back."

Jazz's fuel tanks felt bad, like he was going to be sick. No money meant that Big Sister couldn't pay the rent, and that meant they would get thrown out of their house. "What do we do?"

"I don't know." She started crying again and Jazz ran across the room to hug her tight. "I don't know!"

 

"I'll play more,” Jazz promised. "We'll be okay."

"Oh, little. I don't think that's gonna be enough."

Jazz knew she was probably right.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The black mech was sitting at a table in the restaurant on the HIll when Jazz stepped through the door. He smiled when he saw the young mech, and it looked real. "Ah, the young street musician! What can I help you with?"

"I..." Jazz took a deep breath. He had to take care of Big Sister the way she had always taken care of him. "I need a job. I can play music or wash dishes or--"

"I had hoped you would say something like that." The black mech smiled again. "Are you fast, little one?"

He wasn't the fastest on the street but he was fast enough. Jazz nodded. 

"Good." The black mech beckoned him closer. "Come here, and we will talk. My name is Dodger. What do they call you?”

“My name is Jazz.” He took another deep breath before crossing the room and sitting down at the black mech’s table.


End file.
